[BiGJoN]

G'day guys/gals, I haven't been here in a long time.... but have recently felt that I am getting close to an acceptable skill and so have come here for the harsh stuff (C&C not S&M ^_^).

I got a little assist in the color department through a few people on IRC... was really appreciated and, more so, productive to my ideas of colors and nature.



I can see the lineart needs a bit of fixing (leaning a bit too much) but am generally happy with the outcome for the study.

http://sherman3d.net/jonathan/FIGHTA.jpg >>original lineart
http://sherman3d.net/jonathan/FIGHTA_COL.jpg >> colors before getting some further direction in color theory in nature

C&C it please.... I am not planning to work on this further.
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[TimDavis]

That's looking pretty decent. Looks a little cartoony. I don't know if that was what you were going for, but I think it clashes a bit with the realistic shading.

One thing I might suggest is either picking a more dramatic lighting (It's easier for me to do highlights and shadows then). I'm having trouble figuring out where your light source is.

I tried a bit of an overpaint, but it's not all that great. Hopefully it gets the point across though. Just keep your lighting consistent and I think you'll be much happier with your results. (I moved his belly button down a bit too. I'm no expert on anatomy, but I don't think it's suppose to be that high.)



Take it as you will. I tend to like more realistic stuff, but if that's not your thing...
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Tim Davis
The Art of Tim Davis

[AndyT]

I like the changes. But the shadow in the original pic indicates that there's a light source above his head. So I would either have rendered it that way or changed the shadow on the ground.
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[BiGJoN]

Hey thanks for the over-paint... seems a bit too dark now though (though my last image I agree lacked a little contrast). I am kind of flirting with realism at the moment but sticking to cartoony line art. In truth I don't think my traditional linework is up to doing realistic stuff (seeing as I don't use references at all)

In the overpaint I noticed you have done the following things:
-Increased the detail on the face (lip, cheeks, nose bridge), which I think adds a lot more to the character. Also the navel... good job, missed that)
-Increased the contrast and saturation
-Added some shadow work... making it seem a bit dark, but emphasising a lightsource.

I think you have done this to try show me the lack of a definite lightsource/s. I fall victim to this A LOT... I don't know where in the train of coloring I just forget about it.

Have I missed anything else?

I've learnt tonnes of stuff through this image... seems like I have the opurtunity to learn more. Help me out more if possible... it will be greatly appreciated.
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I could be an arse and write long signatures but I won't!

[egerie]

Firstly, you should stay away from the Dodge/Burn tool or at least use it with parsimony. Remember that shadows are not made out of pure black and highlights are rarely made out of pure white (unless it's metalic / wet and you need a very tiny tiny highlight point). Fred Flick Stone, Spooge Demon and a lot of others discussed colour, light and chroma theory.

Something you could do in order to train yourself into puting your shadows down is something like this :
After you finished your initial sketch, define a light source and draw it on your sheet. Now define on your drawing where the shadows would stop on your character. This may help you in keep in mind where you want your shadows to be while you're working with your colours.
Here's a quickly whipped together example of what I mean
monday morning + "engrish" + 5 mins break from work = ...

2 cents are worth what they are worth!

Edit: hmm UBB tags are capricious this morning

[TimDavis]

Oh, I see. The light source is directly above his head. Well that would completely change things in my overpaint. I thought the light was almost directly in front of him. But you seem to understand what I was trying to say.

Also egerie makes some great points about color usage that I think you excecuted quite well in your first image, but when I raised the contrast the shadows went very dark and ruined some of that. That's not to say that contrast is bad. However, somewhere there is a happy medium. You just need to find that.
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Tim Davis
The Art of Tim Davis

[BiGJoN]

Thank egerie! That was a very helpful gif file. *saves to HDD* Thank you. Thank you.

TimDavis: yes, sound advice. I can see the contrast needs some tweaking... I think this is also because the linework there is black and not close to the colors used in the piece. Hmm so much I could have improved upon in this piece.... good to know! ^_^ Next picture here I come.
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I could be an arse and write long signatures but I won't!

[Synista]

Nice. Is it me or are his arms a bit too long?
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